New site design:

Mike James has created this new look for buzzOplex. We've changed course over the past year. We've gone from Opera's to Bugs. I don't know why that happened but for the past year I've been making insect marionettes and have plans to make many more. All photos, video and articles prior to this can still be found in my archives, by simply clicking the "Archives" image at the top right hand corner of every page.

buzzOplex's newest project is www.ThePuppetTube.com. This newly published site is asking for submissions of all puppet type videos. I will categorize the videos so that it will be easier to just watch the style of puppetry that you like. So please come check it out and upload your puppet videos.

Photo by Scott Pugh - http://www.scott-pugh.com

My most recent marionette is Baleey a Yellow Neck Caterpillar. He was designed and built by me for the upcoming video "The Ugly Bug Ball"The Caterpillar Marionette"

In 2006 Sheila Wyne, an Anchorage Alaska visual artist, created a sculpture using scythe handles. The combining of these curved wooden handles looked to me like a spider. I became inspired to build my first insect puppet. In his first outing in "Petrushka and the Space Spider". He was a hit with audience young and old.

"Claudette", the praying mantis, came about after a conversation with my costumer and fellow puppeteer Tammy Sitar. Check out the video on MetaCafe.

One evening I went to listen to the Boduin String Quartet at the Performing Arts Center. While listening to Shotakovich's String Quartet No. 4 in D Major, Op. 83: III. Allegretto I had a clear vision of butterflies. The results was a marionette play with Claudette and The Butterfly that we called "A classic eco struggle".

While in Homer, Alaska doing a marionette workshop with Brian Hutton, I met a young couple who had been working in the circus in Italy. While having a beer at the local tavern they began to tell me of a Spanish playwrite who had written plays for marionettes. But more specifically, insect marionettes. After reading Federico Garcia Lorca's "The Butterfly's Evil Spell", I was certain that this was my next project. The Scorpion is a main character, who is alot of fun. For a video of his first workout please click here.

"Sylvia"

Dona ProudBeetle

"Dona ProudBeetle and Sylvia"